Wednesday, September 28, 2016

DONCASTER, UK and SALT LAKE CITY, UT (September 28, 2016)—Twile
and FamilySearch International have announced the launch of a new feature that
will let FamilySearch.org
users generate a family history timeline and share their research with other
family members online. The timeline is designed to make research and
discoveries more engaging for the broader family—especially younger
generations—and to encourage collaboration.

Connecting securely to FamilySearch.org,
Twile imports a user’s tree and automatically adds events, such as births and
marriages, to a personal, interactive timeline of their family history. Users
can then browse the timeline, add photos, and share it privately with other
family members.

By presenting a family tree as a timeline, Twile makes it easier for the
non-genealogists in a family to explore their ancestry through events, stories,
and pictures. It also encourages collaboration by letting them add missing
details, their own life events, and recent photos.

UK-based Twile won two awards in the Innovator Showdown at RootsTech 2016,
including the People’s Choice award. In response to customer requests, Twile
immediately started development on its FamilySearch integration.

Paul Brooks, Twile CEO, said, “The FamilySearch import has been our most
requested feature, especially following our success at RootsTech. We have a
passionate community of FamilySearch users who have waited patiently while we
built it, and we’re so happy that it’s now ready for them.”

Currently, the integration imports FamilySearch’s Family Tree data into
Twile. Soon, Twile will be adding support for FamilySearch’s memories and
photos plus an automatic synchronisation that will keep the Twile timeline up
to date as FamilySearch records change.

“FamilySearch is always looking for fun, engaging experiences that help our
patrons make new personal discoveries and family connections. Twile’s rich,
custom timeline of key family history events does exactly that!” said Steve
Rockwood, FamilySearch CEO.

To utilize the new feature, FamilySearch users will need to register for
Twile at www.twile.com. The basic service is
free and lets users add up to 10 events and photos per month, while a Twile
Premium account allows subscribers to add unlimited events and photos for
$49.99 per year.

FamilySearch
is the largest genealogy organization in the world and is a nonprofit,
volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to
learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit,
FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and
sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access
FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org
or through more than 4,921 family history centers in 129 countries, including
the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Twile

Twile
is a UK-based interactive timeline of your family’s past, present, and
future. The timeline consists of photos and milestones—such as births,
marriages and deaths—that tell the story of your family from your earliest
known ancestor right through to today. Family historians can import their
family tree from FamilySearch and then add more recent events from their own
life before inviting their family members to explore and contribute.

While the Twile website is aimed primarily at
family historians, it is also designed to encourage the rest of the family to
add their own content, including the younger generations. Since its
beginnings, Twile has been backed by Creative England, a number of UK angel
investors and Findmypast, with whom they partnered in February 2016. Twile was
the winner of two innovation awards at RootsTech 2016, including People’s Choice.